視頻版（節(jié)選）

完整音頻

Hello I’m Rob and this is 6 Minute English– a programme that brings you an interesting topic, authentic listening practice and some vocabulary to help you improve your language skills. Joining me today is Neil.

大家好，我是羅伯。這里是六分鐘英語，節(jié)目將為你帶來有趣的話題，地道的聽力練習(xí)以及一些詞匯來幫助提高你的語言技能。今天和我一起的是尼爾。

Hello. And today we’re discussing those pilotless aircraft that we seem to be hearing and reading a lot about at the moment.

大家好。今天我們將要討論的是當(dāng)下廣為傳播的無人駕駛飛機(jī)。

You mean drones. And yes, they are in the news quite often for good and bad reasons. They’ve been used for many things from smuggling drugs, detecting water leaks and surveillance.

你指的是無人機(jī)。是的，不管是出于好的原因還是壞的原因，它們經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)在新聞里。它們的用途有走s，檢測水泄露及監(jiān)控。

And surveillance, that means ‘the act of carefully watching someone or something’, perhaps a criminal. But also it means spying, maybe on me and you, Rob. So should we be welcoming the rise of the use of drones?

Surveillance指的是仔細(xì)監(jiān)視某人或某事，或許是一個(gè)罪犯。但是它同樣也指暗中監(jiān)視，或許是監(jiān)視你我，羅伯。所以我們應(yīng)該愉快地接受無人機(jī)的興起嗎？

Well, before our discussion about that ’takes off’, we need to set today’s question for you to answer, Neil.

好吧，在討論無人機(jī)的興起之前，我們要設(shè)置一下你今天需要回答的問題，尼爾。

What are you droning on about, Rob? And by that I don’t mean ‘flying a drone’, I mean ‘talking too much in a very boring way’!

你喋喋不休說些什么呢，羅伯。我那么說并不是指無人機(jī)飛行，而是指用很無聊的方式說太多的話。

Thanks Neil. Now just answer this, will you? Drones are sometimes also referred to as UAVs. So, what does UAV stand for? Is it… a) Unidentified aerial vehicle b) Unmanned aerial vehicle or c) Unaided aircraft vehicle

謝謝你，尼爾?，F(xiàn)在只回答我的問題，好嗎？無人機(jī)有時(shí)也會(huì)被稱作UAVs。所以UAV代表什么？是 a) Unidentified aerial vehicle b) Unmanned aerial vehicle 還是 c) Unaided aircraft vehicle

Well, I’m going to go for b) unmanned aerial vehicle.

好吧，我選b) unmanned aerial vehicle。

OK, well, we’ll see if you’re right later on.

好的，我們稍后來看你是否正確。

Now let’s talk more about drones, which apparently seem to be everywhere now.

現(xiàn)在讓我們多談些關(guān)于無人機(jī)的吧，顯然現(xiàn)在無人機(jī)似乎已經(jīng)到處都是了。

But are they safe and are they necessary? I’ve heard about them being a hazard to aircraft, because they’ve been flown close to airports.

但是它們安全并且必需嗎？我聽說對(duì)飛機(jī)來說它們是危險(xiǎn)的,因?yàn)樗鼈冿w得離機(jī)場很近。

Well, figures in 2016 showed that in the UK there were 70 near misses involving drones. And that’s more than double the year before. So that is a little worrying.

好吧，2016年的數(shù)字顯示有70起未遂事故涉及無人機(jī)。那是2015年數(shù)量的兩倍多。所以那就有些讓人擔(dān)憂了。

Yes. And there’s the potential risk of people’s privacy being invaded when a drone is flown over their property with a camera attached to it.

是的，并且當(dāng)連接有相機(jī)的無人機(jī)在住宅上空盤旋時(shí)，人們的隱私也會(huì)有被侵犯的潛在風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

Ah, but those cameras are also good at capturing some great aerial footage. That’s the film recording of the view from above the ground. So they’re not all bad. And Dr Yoge Patel would agree. She is CEO of Bluebear, which supplies unmanned planes and drones. Here she is speaking about drones on the BBC’s Woman’s Hour programme.

啊，但是這些相機(jī)也可以很好地捕捉到一些不錯(cuò)的航拍鏡頭。那是指空中視角下的影像記錄。所以它們并不都是不好的。并且雅格?帕特爾博士表示認(rèn)同。她是藍(lán)熊公司的首席執(zhí)行官。藍(lán)熊公司供應(yīng)無人駕駛飛機(jī)和無人機(jī)。這是她在BBC的“女性時(shí)間”節(jié)目中就無人機(jī)所談到的。

They have the potential to be dangerous, agreed. They also have though, on the flip side, the ability to be a game changer in both domestic use and in military use. So, some of our drones are being used for aircraft inspections. We’ve put our drones into Fukushima.

無人機(jī)有危險(xiǎn)的可能性，我認(rèn)同這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)。然而從另一方面來說，它們同樣有可能成為家用方面和軍用方面的變革力量。所以我們有一些無人機(jī)是用于飛機(jī)檢查。我們已經(jīng)在福島投入了無人機(jī)。

So there you go, Neil. There are many useful things drones can do.And Dr Patel said they have the ability to be a game changer.

所以這下你懂了，尼爾。無人機(jī)能做許多有用的事情。并且帕特爾博士稱無人機(jī)有可能成為變革力量。

And by that you mean ‘something that completely changes the way something is done or thought about’.

那是指可以徹底改變某些事物的完成方式或思考方式的東西。

Yes. Her company has used drones to inspect the inside of the damaged Fukushima Nuclear Power Station in Japan. And another example of drones being a game changer is UNICEF and the Malawian government testing drones for carrying medical supplies. This could help save lives in remote places.

是的，她的公司已經(jīng)使用無人機(jī)來檢測日本受損的福島核電站的內(nèi)部情況。無人機(jī)作為變革力量的另一個(gè)例子是聯(lián)合國兒童基金會(huì)和馬拉維政府試驗(yàn)用無人機(jī)運(yùn)送醫(yī)療用品。這可以幫助救助偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)的人們。

And I have read that in Australia, lifeguards are using drones to help rescue swimmers, who get in trouble in the sea.

而且我還看到新聞稱在澳大利亞救生員使用無人機(jī)來幫助救援那些在海里遇到麻煩的游泳者。

And have you heard about a Japanese firm that’s planning to use a drone to force employees out of their offices by playing music at them if they stay to work evening overtime?

而且你聽說了嗎？日本一家公司計(jì)劃使用無人機(jī)來強(qiáng)迫員工離開辦公室。如果他們晚上加班工作的話，會(huì)朝他們放音樂。

I haven’t, but you’ve convinced me. It seems like the sky’s the limit for the uses of drones! I mean there’s no limit to what they can do. But I am a little concerned about how they are regulated or controlled.

我沒聽說過，但你確實(shí)讓我對(duì)此深信不疑?？雌饋頍o人機(jī)似乎無所不能。我是指它們能做的是無限的。但是我有一點(diǎn)擔(dān)憂如何調(diào)節(jié)或管理它們。

Well, Dr Yoge Patel says because the technology is new, regulations or legal controls are developing all the time.

好吧，雅格?帕塔爾博士稱因?yàn)檫@項(xiàng)技術(shù)是新出現(xiàn)的，調(diào)節(jié)或者是法規(guī)管理一直在變化。

As technology progresses, regulation and operational use needs to then be harmonised with it. And we are, as a community, going through that whole process of saying what is proportionate and appropriate regulation to go with different uses of drones.

隨著科技進(jìn)步，無人機(jī)的管理與使用需要和科技相協(xié)調(diào)。并且作為一個(gè)群體，我們要經(jīng)歷整個(gè)過程來確定什么是和無人機(jī)用途相協(xié)調(diào)的管理辦法。

So she talked about regulations being harmonised as technology progresses.

所以她是說管理要和科技進(jìn)步相協(xié)調(diào)。

So I think she means ‘making regulations suitable and appropriate for what the drones are being used for’. So they need some control, but not so they can’t be useful and effective.

所以我想她是指管理要和無人機(jī)用途相適應(yīng)。所以無人機(jī)需要一定的管控，不那樣的話，無人機(jī)就沒辦法高效使用了。

Like flying drones to stop you working late! Now Rob, I’m dying to know what the other name for a drone is.

就像無人機(jī)阻止你工作到很晚！現(xiàn)在羅伯，我很想知道無人機(jī)的另一個(gè)名字。

OK, let me tell you. So earlier I asked what does UAV stand for? Was it… a) Unidentified aerial vehicle b) Unmanned aerial vehicle or c) Unaided aircraft vehicle

好的，讓我告訴你答案吧。之前我問你UAV代表什么？是a) Unidentified aerial vehicle b) Unmanned aerial vehicle 還是c) Unaided aircraft vehicle

And I said b), was that correct?

我選的B，正確嗎？

Yes Neil, you know your drones. That’s correct. Well done. UAVs or drones have been around for quite a while in different forms.It’s thought they were first used for providing practice targets for training military personnel. OK Neil, let’s quickly go over some of the vocabulary we have mentioned today, starting with surveillance.

正確，尼爾，你很了解無人機(jī)啊。那是正確的。做得不錯(cuò)。UAVs或者無人機(jī)以不同形式問世有一陣子了。人們認(rèn)為無人機(jī)初次使用是給軍事人員訓(xùn)練當(dāng)練習(xí)靶。好的，尼爾，現(xiàn)在讓我們快速瀏覽一下今天提到的單詞，從surveillance開始。

"The police kept the jewellery shop under surveillance, because they had a tip-off about a robbery."So that means ‘carefully watching someone or something, usually to try to stop something illegal’.

警察使珠寶店處于監(jiān)控之中,因?yàn)樗麄兊玫较?huì)有人來搶劫。所以那指的是仔細(xì)監(jiān)視某人或某事，通常是為了阻止某些非法事件。

Then we mentioned aerial footage – that’s film recording made from the sky. "The aerial footage on TV of the dolphin swimming was spectacular."

然后我們提到了aerial footage-那是在空中拍攝到的影像記錄。電視上海豚游泳的航拍畫面非常壯觀。

Yes, drones have been a game changer for wildlife programmes on TV. That means ‘something that completely changes the way something is done or thought about’.

是的，無人機(jī)已經(jīng)成為野生動(dòng)物電視節(jié)目的變革力量。那指的是可以徹底改變某些事物的完成方式或思考方式的東西。

We also mentioned the phrase ’the sky’s the limit’, meaning ‘there’s no limit to something’. "The sky is the limit to what professional footballers can earn these days."

我們同樣提到了'the sky's the limit'詞組，指的是某事物沒有限制。職業(yè)足球運(yùn)動(dòng)員現(xiàn)在掙得沒數(shù)了。

Then we discussed harmonised – that describes two things being suitable for each other to allow them to work properly."The garden has been designed to harmonise with the natural landscape."

然后我們討論了harmonised，描述的是兩事物為了彼此正常工作相協(xié)調(diào)。這個(gè)公園的設(shè)計(jì)與自然景觀相協(xié)調(diào)。

Very useful vocabulary, Neil. But let’s stop droning on.And that means ‘talking too much in a boring way’. And remind everyone to check out our You Tube, Facebook, twitter and Instagram pages and of course, our website at bbclearningenglish.com. See you next time. Goodbye.

非常有用的詞匯，尼爾。但是我們停止喋喋不休吧。那是指用無聊的方式說太多的話。并且大家記得訪問我們的YouTube，twitter和Instagram網(wǎng)頁，當(dāng)然還有我們的網(wǎng)站bbclearningenglish.com。下次見。再見。

Goodbye.

再見。